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Lookup NU author(s): Professor David Elliott
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X chromosome inactivation occurs twice during the life cycle of placental mammals. In normal females, one X chromosome in each cell is inactivated early in embryogenesis, while in the male, the X chromosome is inactivated together with the Y chromosome in spermatogenic cells shortly before or during early meiotic prophase. Inactivation of one X chromosome in somatic cells of females serves to equalise X-linked gene dosage between males and females, but the role of male meiotic sex chromosome inactivation (MSCI) is unknown. The inactive X-chromosome of somatic cells and male meiotic cells share similar properties such as late replication and enrichment for histone macroH2A1.2, suggesting a common mechanism of inactivation. This possibility is supported by the fact that Xist RNA that mediates somatic X-inactivation is expressed in the testis of male mice and humans. In the present study we show that both Xist RNA and Tsix RNA, an antisense RNA that controls Xist function in the soma, are expressed in the testis in a germ-cell-dependent manner. However, our finding that MSCI and sex-body formation are unaltered in mice with targeted mutations of Xist that prevent somatic X inactivation suggests that somatic X-inactivation and MSCI occur by fundamentally different mechanisms.
Author(s): Elliott DJ; Turner JMA; Mahadevaiah SK; Garchon H-J; Pehrson JR; Jaenisch R; Burgoyne PS
Publication type: Review
Publication status: Published
Journal: Journal of Cell Science
Year: 2002
Volume: 115
Issue: 21
Pages: 4097-4105
ISSN (print): 0021-9533
ISSN (electronic): 1477-9137
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jcs.00111
DOI: 10.1242/jcs.00111
PubMed id: 12356914
